Congressional Republicans Are Proposing Between $880 Billion and $2 Trillion In Cuts To Medicaid Even Though Their Own Constituents Could Lose Vital Care
The Republican Party led by Donald Trump and Elon Musk have once again gone back on their word and proposed devastating cuts to Medicaid. These cuts threaten to take away coverage from the 72 million people who rely on Medicaid and drive up costs for everyone. These cuts would have the biggest impact on seniors, children, veterans, people with serious disabilities, and people who take care of their children or elderly parents. Medicaid also is the financial lifeline for rural hospitals. According to Hart Research polling, 67 percent of Republican voters have a favorable view of Medicaid, with 38 percent saying either they or someone in their family relies on Medicaid. Despite the fact that these cuts would betray their own constituents, Republican leadership is still moving forward in order to fund more tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations.
HEADLINES
Politico: Red States Likely to Feel the Pain of Medicaid Cuts.
- “If Republicans move forward with deep cuts to Medicaid, the pain won’t be spread evenly across states, Robert reports. Advocates and experts say states with higher proportions of low-income and aging residents are likely to be hit the hardest. And many of them are red states.”
HuffPost: How Trump’s MAGA Agenda Is Already Sticking It To Red America.
- “‘A lot of MAGA is on Medicaid,’ Bannon said on Thursday on his ‘War Room’ podcast. ‘If you don’t think so, you are dead wrong.’”
- “The proposed Medicaid cuts during Trump’s first term were part of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. That bill proved spectacularly unpopular ― and ultimately failed to pass ― in part because even many diehard Trump supporters would’ve stood to lose health coverage had it succeeded. Which is exactly what could happen now, as Bannon knows.”
CNN: GOP’s Plans to Enact Trump Agenda May Face a Big Vulnerability.
- “Over 21 million people now receive coverage through the Medicaid expansion and, especially in states between the coasts, many of those are Whites without a college degree — the cornerstone of the GOP electoral coalition in the Trump era. Medicaid funding has also become indispensable to hospitals and other health care providers in ruby-red rural areas, where fewer people than in metropolitan communities receive health insurance through their employers.”
Roll Call: Medicaid Overhaul Proves to Be Politically Perilous Proposition.
- “But they face obstacles that could block any sort of overhaul to the nearly 60-year-old joint state and federal program. Among those obstacles: public opinion, members of their own party in competitive districts, governors who worry about impacts to their state budgets, a closely divided Senate, and maybe one of the most formidable: hospitals and health care providers that carry significant influence in Washington.”
Politico: Republicans May Find It Harder to Cut Medicaid Than They Think.
- “As the blowback over the portals foreshadowed, going after Medicaid will be harder than it looks. That’s because the program has evolved and expanded significantly over the years — and its constituency has expanded along with it. Some 80 million people now get health care from Medicaid, including many working-class voters in the president’s base.”
POLLING
January 2025 Hart Research And Protect Our Care Poll Shows High Disapproval of Plans to Cut Medicaid.
- “66% of voters say it will make them feel unfavorable toward Republicans in Congress if they push for large cuts to Medicaid this year. Notably, 43% of Trump voters say they would be unfavorable toward congressional Republicans if they push for large Medicaid cuts.”
January 2025 Navigator Poll Shows Cuts to Medicaid Are Most Concerning.
- “When presented with a list of proposed policies that go along with the Republican tax plan, a majority of Americans are most concerned that it will lead to cuts to Medicaid and Medicare (64 percent) and 44 percent of Americans are concerned that it will lead to cuts to veterans healthcare, including about half of Republicans (49 percent).”
February 2025 Data for Progress Poll Shows Americans Support Increasing Spending on Medicaid, Not Cutting It.
- 60 percent of Americans supported increasing Medicaid spending rather than cutting it and 30 percent think the funding should stay the same.